Iron Man
by Alexandra The Not-So-Great
Summary: People won't stop starring at Al. Eventually he snaps. Ch4 sucks but the rest is better. written a year ago
1. A notsohappy beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or the song Iron Man. Please don't hurt me!

Iron Man

Has he lost his mind?

Can he see or is he blind?

Can he walk at all or if he moves will he fall?

Is he 'live or dead?  
Has he thoughts within his head?

We'll just pass him there

Why should we even care?

This darkness merged with another darkness, one eyes could adjust to. Alphonse was at first confused at where he was but as soon as he heard Edwards' voice he remembered—everything--: drawing the transmutation circle, adding the drop of blood, when things started going horribly wrong . . . his body being- "I'm sorry, but it's the best I could do" came Ed's weak voice from below him. Alphonse looked down to see his older brother missing two limbs – left leg and right arm – bleeding free red blood over his remaining hand, his clothes, the floor, everywhere. Alphonse quickly grabbed him, about to ask 'what was the best you could do?' but stopped in mid-sentence when he saw: his arms were no longer made of flesh and blood, but now hollow metal . . . and so was the rest of his body.

"I-I sealed your soul into the armor that was in the corner. I used my arm as material in a transmutation. I thought I had lost you . . ."

"Brother we need to get you to a doctor!-You're bleeding too much! Brother? – can you hear me brother! No Ed, don't die! You can't!" Ed couldn't hear him, he was preoccupied clenching his teeth against the pain, trying to stop himself from screaming; the only sounds from him were muffled whimpers of agony. The only thing Al could think of was saving his brother, which he did. He carried Ed to their neighbors the Rockbells – skilled auto-mail mechanics – (which meant they would know something about helping Ed.)

"Please, you've got to help him Aunt Pinako." Pinako just stared at him. "If you don't do something . . . he's gonna bleed to death" Alphonse said, pleading, urgent, sad, and afraid all at the same time. "Winry, clear off the bed and get some bandages" Pinako finally told her granddaughter. "Set him down gently, Alphonse, then wait in the hall."

'My body's been like that – hallow, empty armor – ever since we tried to bring mom back. Ed, Winry, and Aunt Pinako understand, but when other people see that there's nothing inside . . . it scares them. They stare and whisper behind my back talk about me like I'm some kind of freak!; I'm not!- I'm a human being!- A living person!- just like the rest of you! I have feelings too! Stop Staring at me!'


	2. A dream?

He was turned to steel

In the great magnetic field

When he traveled time

For the future of mankind

'How. How, I often wonder. I have no memory of what happened after I saw Ed reaching out for me but before the vast darkness. It's possible nothing happened . . . I just have a feeling that something did. Maybe if I clear my mind and concentrate it'll come back to me.' And concentrate he did, however, little did he know . . .

_ Ed's arm stretched out to me and I tried to reach him – my arm – it's being broken down! The transmutation – this isn't right, what was wrong? This isn't – I'm-- . . ._

_ Darkness . . . a darkness so dark, it appears as an endless white void. Nn, not void; room. Things started spinning. So many things I saw. So much knowledge . . . so many events . . . that will come to pass if I do nothing. I saw . . .the end of the human race . . . or only the _beginning_ of the end. Hm, Ed's voice . . . his voice . . . I'm drifting. Reality. Come back to reality. Come back to – _"Return him . . . he's my little brother . . . whether it's my legs or both my arms! I can even give you my heart. So please! Return him to me! He's my only brother!" _Too many things, too much information . . . my head's about to –_"Aaahhhh!" Al tried to slow down his breathing, then remembered this body didn't need to breath. He gave a sigh, or as much of one as a suit of armor can give, "Only a dream. But, is that really what I saw?"


	3. Snap

Nobody wants him

He just stares at the world

Planning his vengeance

That he will soon unfurl

He sat there in the corner, unable to move since the homunculus Gluttony ate his metal arms and legs. The one good thing about being a suit of armor was you could always be fixed, as long as your blood-seal was intact (which it was). The people in-and-out of the hospital room ignored him, like he wasn't even there, and when they did notice him, their eyes said, "You poor freak" before quickly looking elsewhere. 'Stop looking like that. I know I'm different. Why don't you people judge me after you know what I've been through. Do you actually think I wanted to be like this? If you knew what it was like to-' and during the middle of his thinking, Alphonse smiled to himself . . . a dark, evil smile. He knew what he was going to do: after he was finished, no one would ever look at him or his brother like they were freaks ever again. He looked over at Ed and Winry who were fussing that Ed hadn't drank his milk, which brought back Al's bad mood from moments before.

Winry was yelling and shoving the glass of milk in Ed's face, "How do you expect to get taller if you don't drink your milk!" "I hate milk! It's nasty and disgusting and it comes out of a cow!-" Ed yelled back. "Just drink the dumb milk, Ed" Al said from his spot in the corner. "Oh yeah," Ed said with a smug look, "you didn't have to do anything to get that big." "Shut-up." Silence. "Ed, are you and Al fighting," Winry asked, not getting an answer "That's just like you, going off into danger, not telling me anything . . . I don't know you anymore!" she cried, then ran out of the room.

"I'll be on the roof when you're done" Al said an called one of the officers outside the door to take him there. Once alone, he could plan out the whole thing. And the best part about being alone on the roof was no one would hear him laughing evilly all to him-self.


	4. crackle and pop

Now the time is here

For Iron Man to spread fear

Vengeance from the grave,

Kills the people he once saved

Youswell was a perfect place to start unleashing retribution. Isolated, hardly any visitors, no families living half in one city-half in another. Word of what happened wouldn't get out fast and more to the point; no one would see him.

At first, he thought about taking their souls from their bodies and trapping them in various objects but he didn't think he could do that. Then he thought he would kill one and use two or three others as ingredients in a human transmutation: 1) it was too dangerous for him, 2) he'd have to do it over and over – too tiresome, 3) he might as well just kill them all. So 3 he went with; kill them all—using alchemy of course. All through the day he snuck around picking them off one by one like flies. To make things go quicker he drew transmutation circles on his hands. It was chalk so it would come off easily however the blood was another matter: it could be washed off but the smell would remain. "Hm, I guess there's more than one reason I walked all the way out here. I could run back to the nearest town when I'm done, buy a train ticket to Youswell, call Ed or Mustang to tell them where I'm headed, take the train there, then when I see the city in ruin with all its inhabitants dead, call Ed or Mustang again to tell them about the town and that I'm going to help bury the dead. That will give me a perfect alibi for where I've been, and the stench on the armor. And if they wonder why I showed up in town coming from Youswell on foot, heh, no one could ever suspect innocent Alphonse of doing such a horrid thing."

Another one of the people came out of the coal mine. It was a young girl who had taken lunch to her father. Didn't matter. Al jumped out in front of her. She was startled, turned to run. Alphonse grabbed her head with both hands. Red light from alchemy came forth and exploded her skull. Al dropped the lifeless body heading for the coal mine itself. "I really should thank Scar-san the next time I see him" Alphonse said then chuckled aloud to himself.


	5. Ed's POV

Nobody wants him

They just turn their heads

Nobody helps him

Now he has his revenge

"_'Entire population of Xenotime murdered: military suspects it's the work of the State Alchemist killer.' _I don't like it, Ed; I don't like it at all" said Col. Roy Mustang, tossing the day's newspaper across his desk, turning in his chair to face Ed sitting on the couch. "What's not to like except all the dead bodies?" Edward sarcastically replied rolling his eyes, "And why are you suddenly bringing me into this case after trying so hard to keep me out of it?" Mustang sighed. "Normally I'd like to keep you 'children' away from all things Scar, but killing an entire town, full of people who aren't even alchemists, much less State Alchemists, definitely isn't Scar's M.O. Not only that, but also, at both places this has happened, Youswell and Xenotime, your brother was the one to inform the military about the incidents because he "just-so-happened-to-be-in-the-area" going to pay a visit-" "Are you accusing Al of doing this!-" Ed yelled ready to rip Mustang in half. "-either that or Scar's trying awfully hard to tie you into this. Anyway, you'll be leaving for Xenotime – without Alphonse, of course – with Lt. Col. Maes Hughes; he's in charge of investigations so you'll report to him for the time being. Oh, and Ed, . . . do try not to kill Maes . . . he's just an overly-obsessed father who wants others to share in his joy –" Ed: "coughbullshitcough" "-however, you do have my permission to destroy any and/or all photos said person has" leaning in Mustang added in a whisper, "I'm thinking about getting Hughes' photos of Elicia labeled as contraband" "-so you can take them up and use them to torture Scar when we capture him-" "-or you could sic Winry and her 'wrench-of-death' on him-" "Yeah, or you could let Hawkeye use him for 'Anger Management' purposes-" Click. Ed turned to face the door slowly. There was 1st Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, trusty gun drawn, pointed at his head, "I. Do not. Need. Anger. Management." "S-s-sure Lieutenant. W-whatever you say" Ed stuttered before running out of the Colonel's office.

"Hm, at first glance it looks like Scar's doing – what with the brains being exploded from the inside an all – but on a second glance . . . look here –" Ed pointed to the corpses' forehead, "- there should be indentions from where his fingers were, but there's not. And if you look on either side of his head, there are indentions there instead; like whoever did it was using both hands and we know Scar can only use one for alchemy." "You're saying it's not him. But they're good enough to imitate him . . . you know, Ed, you're the only State Alchemist capable of doing that. But both times you were in the hospital . . . and both times Al was missing. He's a good enough alchemist to pull it off, right?"

Ed gave a heavy sigh, "'course he's good enough . . . but. . . .Surely he couldn't have done this."

Hughes glanced at all the bodies while speaking, "May be; we definitely know it happened." Hughes' tone changed from serious to mock-serious, "and don't call me Shirley" and gave Ed his trademark mischievous smirk-over-the-shoulder look, but Ed wasn't paying attention: his gaze fell on two boys only a few years younger than him, their pale blond hair caked with blood. He and Al had met them not too long ago, and now both Russell and Fletcher were dead.

'He couldn't. He wouldn't. And even if he did, I won't believe it until I see it with my own two eyes . . .'

"Lior! LiorLiorLiorLior! – why didn't I realize it earlier! – he's going to attack Lior next!" Edward scram as he ran out the door, grabbing his coat along the way, praying to an unknown god that he would get there before it was too late

After 1 train ride, 2 hitch-hikes, and 5 hours running in the desert, Ed finally stumbled into Lior. He was so tired, thirsty, aching, and out of breath that he didn't notice he was finally there, or that he was the only on there until he reached the water fountain. He dunked his face into the fountain – greedy with thirst – then immediately withdrew his face, spitting out all he'd collected, disappointed the people had kept it filled with red wine even after Cornello was gone. Wait. There was no sound. He looked around. No one. But there should be – "-oh-shit" Ed whispered, eyes going wide. Written on a wall in crimson letters no one could miss: 'Run, run, as fast as you can – you'll never catch me I'm the gingerbread man.'

Ed realized what filled the fountain wasn't wine. He nearly fainted.


	6. A notsohappy ending

Heavy boots of lead,

Fills his victims full of dread,

Running as fast as they can,

Iron Man lives again!

"He's insane" breathed Ed, voice shaking from the horrors he'd just seen and all the vomiting he'd just done. Shaky hands closed the door as shaky legs tried to lead him away. Some of the people viewed so far had been hacked to pieces but he hadn't been able to hold off vomiting long enough to see exactly how it had been done. And to think; less than three minutes ago, getting something to drink had been his only concern.

He could hear the screams as those people were brutally murdered echoing in his head. Try as he might, he could not block out the noise. Then, in a burst of realization, he realized the screams were not just in his head. Jeeze, talk about picking a bad day to leave your common sense at home. Mentally kicking himself (again) and focusing on the screams, he ran as fast as his exhausted body would let him.

It was coming from the sanctuary. 'God must really hate me,' Edward thought, 'I was only a child then and he still has me marked.' He stopped at the monolithic double doors, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before intruding upon holy ground. Inside looked exactly like the room in lab 5 where he fought The Slicer, moonlight poring in through the slanted ceiling and all. There was even a dark figure there ready to greet him.

Blood was the first thing he noticed: smell penetrating air thick and cakey-strong as an overbearing scented-candle, smeared over walls and floor, gathered in puddles around the dead bodies. There was a 'klinking' sound, bringing Ed's attention back to the figure, as he stood up. He was holding something furry with his right hand but since his back was to him, Ed couldn't tell what it was. The figure turned slowly, facing Ed with his left side; keeping the right hidden.

"Alphonse? What are you doing here?"

"Taking care of business," Alphonse said indifferently.

"Don't tell me you've been –" yelled Ed.

"Aren't you happy brother," the armor turned slightly, "Look-" he held up his right arm, dangling a man above the floor, holding the guy's hair in an iron grasp, "-I even did this one – just for you." Ed's eyes traveled down the form then went wide in horror; the figure Alphonse was holding had been cut-off at the knees.

"No, no, this isn't what I wanted . . . I just . . . this isn't . . . this wasn't suppose to happen!" Ed moaned. "You wanted them to stop making fun of you, I thought you would be happy brother" Al, bright and innocent sounding as ever. "No! It doesn't make me happy! Sure I hated it when they called me 'shorty', but they didn't deserve this!" Pause. "What you're doing is wrong, Al, and I can't let you keep on doing it, even if you are my brother." Al let go of his hold on the guy's hair, causing him to fall to the floor, landing on his nubs, making the still-living-being emit a painful scream from the pressure of full-weight on freshly severed limbs. "Then if you don't approve of what I'm doing, you do realize I can't let you out of here alive." Ed had that tortured/haunted look on his face and was shaking his head, "No, Al, don't make me do this-" "TOO LATE BROTHER!" the Armor yelled as he lunged at Ed who was taken by surprise and barely had enough time to jump out of the way, though not far enough as he was still well within reaching distance: Al caught his left leg, bringing Ed out of flight, and, to Ed's horror, pulled hard enough for him to hear the 'click' as the auto-mail dislodged from its housing.

Ed fell to the floor as Alphonse tossed the auto-mail carelessly behind him. He struggled to get up then rolled over on his back and was about to clap his hands when Al grabbed his right wrist, yanking hard on the arm, much harder than was required, to remove that auto-mail from its housing as well. "None of that now, Edward" Al chided, then kicked him in the side, making him roll back over on his stomach, clutching his side with his remaining arm. While Ed was in pain, Al walked back to the bodies, tossed Ed's fake arm in the midst of them, and redirected his attention to the only one still alive. By then, Ed had uncurled enough to look up; he saw Al pulling the man who'd been cut-off at the knees up by his arm with one hand, move his other hand to clap that one, then pull his arm back like he was going to grab the man's head before turning to Ed and saying, "This I learned from Scar so watch closely."

'Doesn't need transmutation circles! But only people who've seen the gate can use alchemy like that . . . then that means . .!' "Stop! Al! Remember when we went through the gate? – it showed us the end of mankind! You're helping it, Al, you're –" "I don't care! That doesn't matter! They think we're freaks – they must suffer!" At that, Ed's voice was reduced to a whimper as he struggled to hold back tears that threatened to choke his throat and his eyes, "No . . . don't do it . . . please . . . stop. . ." Alphonse's response was bone-chilling: "No brother, I won't stop. I'll keep on killing . . . until there's no one left." A look of absolute horror crossed Ed's face as he uttered the only word he could think of. "Yes, brother, and you're going to watch as I do it too, then, it will be your turn to die." The utter soon became a scream that reverberated throughout the dead town, stirring birds that had gathered on corpses to flee from impending doom.

--------

This is actually the end of the story but if you don't likehow it endedor you just feel like reading on, then by all means look at the epilogue.


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue

"Al, think about what you're doing; they're human just like you," Ed begged. "This body isn't human, brother! I'll never be human again and you know it!" Al snapped back then continued what he was doing about the kill the man who'd been cut-off at the knees. 'I'm sorry guy: keep Al's attention while he's killing you so I can crawl across the floor, grab my leg, and re-attach it.' But while Ed was crawling across the floor Al noticed him. Al dropped the legless man (knowing he would die of blood loss anyway), bounded across the room, stepped on his brother's auto-mail leg, and then grabbed him up by his arm. "Brother! Why do you insist on being a pain?"

"Because I think what you're doing is wrong."

"I don't care what you think. Now **_die_**, nuisance!" Al pulled back his arm, about to grab Edward's head. "What would mom think!" Ed shouted. Al stopped. "M-mom. . ." he whimpered. For a moment he returned to his former self, the sweet, innocent, almost child-like boy Alphonse, while memories of his mother flooded him. After that brief moment passed Al was furious. "How dare you trick me like that you heathen! DI-" Ed opened his eyes only to see Al's armor being broken in half horizontally, red light flooding through the breaks obviously made from a transmutation, the force of which thrust Ed and the upper half of Alphonse several feet backwards; Al letting go of Edward before clanging against the floor.

Ed almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. This had to be a nightmare; a figure that could only be Scar standing behind the bottom half of Al's armor, lowering his right arm as the armor crashed to the floor. He stepped over the fallen scrap metal into the light, an unforgiving anger-filled red eye glaring out from the side illuminated by the moon. As he slowly came forward the upper half of Al rocked slightly from side to side then sprang up using his hands for feet much like what happened to the younger slicer brother in lab 5. "So you're still alive. I'll have to fix that won't I," Scar said stopping in front of Al's remains.

Al quickly clapped his hands but Scar even quicker grabbed his right arm and ripped it completely off. Ed's vision was shaking as if there were some great tremor only he could feel; his body had gone numb and he was frozen in place from horror. While Al sat there bewildered Scar grabbed Al's helmet with his right hand and blew it to bits. This was enough to send a jolt through Ed's body that made him impulsively jump in front of his brother, but without one of his legs the jump was more like a flop and only landed him beside Scar's right leg. He wrapped his left arm tightly around Scar's leg and, looking up, pleadingly yelled as he had only once before, "PLEASE! DON'T KILL HIM! HE'S MY LITTLE BROTHER!" Scar glared down upon Ed with bitter red eyes and spoke the cold-hard-truth life had given him but he had refused to listen to, "This… _thing_ … is no longer your brother; he stopped being that the moment he became a murderer. If he isn't killed he will only continue taking lives." Ed shook his head, eyes wide, not wanting to accept the truth, almost crying while he spoke, "No! You can't kill him!"

"Would you rather kill him then?"

Ed froze. He let go of Scar's leg and looked quietly at the floor.

Scar gently placed his right hand on Al's breastplate. Almost immediately red veins spread from beneath his hand to all over what was left of the armor. Edward didn't hear, but rather _felt_ Alphonse let out a small whimper, and suddenly, he knew this was no longer acreature, but his brother—his younger brother. He looked up and began to shout "stop!" yet it was too late; the red veins burst open, shattering the armor into hundreds of pieces.

Edward sat staring at the bits of metal that had once served as his younger brother's body and said his brother's name in the only stuttered whisper he could manage. Scar turned from the fragments of metal to Ed. "Don't worry FullMetal, you shall soon join your brother," he told Ed, as if trying to assure him. Ed sat there unresponsive.

"In a cruel twist of irony the philosopher's stone was the only thing that could save Ishbal from the State Alchemists, yet it would take the annihilation of its entire people to make. In another twist of irony, the philosopher's stone was the only thing that could return you and your brother to your original bodies," Scar pushed his right sleeve up enough to show the transmutation circle his brother had branded him with in its entirety, "yet with your deaths its completion will be reached. And the irony of all ironies… is that your death—the death of a State Alchemist—shall complete the stone that was meant for Ishbal."

But Scar's words did not reach Ed; they were drowned out by a lullaby his mother often used to put he and his brother to sleep when they were young. The house he had grown up in faded into view. He saw his brother running down the road home, waving and calling out to hurry before supper gets cold. From the house he heard his mother saying she had made Ed's favorite, stew. She stepped out onto the porch just as his brother ran up to it and stood beside her, waving his arm with the brightest smile ever as their mother spread her arms and gently called out, "Come home, Edward…my son."

In that moment, Edward looked up as Scar put his hand on his head, though Edward could not see Scar nor feel the pressure of his hand. Smiling, he whispered 'Mother, I'm coming home.' As the red light brightened he saw the picture of his mother and brother standing on the porch of their house, his brother waving and smiling, his mother with her arms lovingly spread, and then … nothing.


End file.
